Impact of biofuel utilization in engine fuel: an ecofriendly product

Abstract

Biofuel initiative has been backed by government policies in the quest for energy security through partially replacing the limited fossil fuels and reducing threat to the environment from exhaust emissions and global warming. The main fuel found to be an increasingly important alternative to petroleum is bio-fuel. It is biodegradable, and produces significantly less air pollution than fossil fuel. In a large excess Biofuels (Bioethanol, Biodisel) are produced by agroresidues and from algal biomass. Agro residues are the main source of lignocellulosic biomass. Lignocellulosic materials composed of cellulose, hemicelluloses and lignin, are the world's most widely available low-cost renewable resources to be considered for ethanol production. Sugarcane bagasse, rice hulls, wheat straw, rape straw, wheat bran, barley straw and cassava stalks are agricultural and agro-industrial residues that could be considered for bioconversion. Bioethanol is an attractive, sustainable energy source to fuel transportation, which is prepared by these agro residues in different steps. Pretreatment is the first step to degrade the biomass component. There are different types of methods of pretreatment one of which dilute acid pretreatment. After pretreatment enzymatic hydrolysis is used to ferment pre-treated biomass either by using simultaneous saccharification or by further acid treatment. Simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) process is favoured for producing ethanol from the major fraction of lignocellulosic biomass, cellulose, because of its low cost potential. An attempt has been made in this paper to use alternative fuel in four stroke Gasoline engine. As a gaseous fuel, gains from LPG have already been established in terms of low emissions of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbon. Ethanol is one of the fuel additive has some advantages such as better antiknock characteristics and the reduction of CO and HC emissions. It can be considered as renewable energy under the environmental consideration. The purpose of this study is to investigate experimentally and compare the engine performance and pollutant emission of a SI engine using ethanol-gasoline blended fuel and pure gasoline. The results showed that when ethanol is added, the heating value of the blended fuel decreases, while the octane number of the blended fuel increases. The results of the engine test indicated that when ethanol-gasoline blended fuel is used, the engine power and specific fuel consumption of the engine slightly increase; CO emission decreases dramatically as a result of the leaning effect caused by the ethanol addition; HC emission decreases in some engine working conditions; and CO 2 emission increases because of the improved combustion.